Sunday, October 05, 2014

Epic 18-Inning Giants Win: A Baseball Classic

I joined the torturous Giants game around the seventh inning stretch. Who knew it would be eleven innings later before the high tension stress level that is October Baseball would release us viewers from its addictive grasp. An after game stretch never felt so good.The Giants and Nationals played the longest postseason game in hours and minutes ever played between two major league baseball teams. Mind you the game is over one-hundred years old. It was a postseason game for the ages with the underdog, under-credited San Francisco Giants getting a game winning home run from Brandon Belt in the top of the 18th. As always, there were many heoroes for the Giants who pitched, hit and defended like it was 2012. For as great as the pitching of Hudson and Petit were, the media had all but given the game to their beloved Nationals (best team in baseball) before our own Kung Fu Pablo Panda Sandoval doubled in the ninth with two outs and two men on. We won't even discuss the go-ahead Posey score that wasn't. At that moment, if Pablo goes down the Giants go down. Instead, no longer a rookie with a playoff game under his belt, Joe Panik scores and the epic back and forth duel between baseball soldiers marches onward. I hate to dwell on the media bias against the Giants but when you hear a national television commentator say during extra innings that there's six batters before the Nationals pitching spot comes to bat, but the Nationals should have won it by then, your suspicions of a Giants hating media are driven home. That's why most Giants fans prefer local broadcast to national every time, the national makes the game double-torturous for us. But in the end, a Giants win, a city's celebration (fans were honking and hollering in the SF streets last night), and our recognition of Giants Orange October determination is more rewarding to us Giants fans than any unfavoring remarks thrown out by Fox, ESPN or other national sports commentators and/or analysts. Its what makes winning against all odds so..............Sweeeeeeeet! Get ready major league baseball, cinderfella comes home Monday to possibly closeout this second round of dancing and move on to the next baseBall event; the league championship series.Final Giants 2Senators 1Giants lead series 2-0